Category: whatsnew

Are You Planning on Getting a Flu Shot This Year?

Last year I visited my doctor for what I thought was gout but turned out to be a partially torn ligament as well as Osteochondral Injury of the Talus (a.k.a. Ankle OCD), but while there, she also convinced me to get a flu shot. I had read, and she reiterated, that it was supposed to be a horrible flu season and sometimes it’s better safe than sorry. The thing is that I had never gotten a flu shot before, never really had the flu (I’m told you know if you have the flu, rather than a cold, although most people say they have the flu and only have a cold), and as I’m in okay shape and not old, yet, I always skipped getting one mostly out of fear because I would hear of people who had reactions to the flu vaccines. As my doctor and I discussed it, I decided “What the hell?”, rolled up my sleeve, tossed the “bad reaction” dice, and got the shot. All was well, I didn’t have any strange reactions nor get some kind of “phantom” flu, but wouldn’t you know it, it turned out to be a not-so-horrible flu season, there were no stories of a massive flu outbreak, and when all was said and done I questioned my decision and wondered why I got a flu shot.

As flu season is started to creep upon us I’m starting to see commercials for flu shots, or at least I just saw a commercial for a flu shot with this tiny needle so that it doesn’t hurt, and the thoughts of “Should I get a flu shot?” are starting to creep back again. I mean, maybe I didn’t get the flu last year because I had the vaccine, or maybe it’s just because I didn’t get near the influenza virus. Also, I didn’t have a reaction, so I suppose getting the vaccine wouldn’t hurt, especially if I get one with that new shot that’s out there, and maybe I’ll feel a little safer shaking hands with people this winter. And so I plight: Are you planning on getting a flu shot this year?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Are You Interested in the iPhone 5?

As I have developed some apps for the iPhone it’s easy to admit that I am an Apple guy and love my iPhone. I eagerly await their media events, loved it when they webcast one a few years ago, and yes, there I am trying to find the best live-blog feed so as to find out the truth about all of the Apple rumors that have been swirling around for weeks so I can dream of owning the hottest, new product. As Apple is having their next media event on Wednesday, September 12th, I will find myself trying to find some quiet time by myself to diligently follow Mr. Cook and his helpers as they tell the people in the hall about the products, and they in turn relate his announcements to me, all about the latest and greatest in the Appleverse, including what is supposed to be the iPhone 5 but also supposedly won’t be about a smaller iPad, an announcement the rumors say will happen in October. The thing is that most of the excitement of the events are going away, what with the abundance of leaks that are prevalent prior to the actual event with pictures of parts, specs, and computer mock-ups so that when the version that is announced, it just can’t live up to the pre-event hype that is generated. Personally I was hoping that the iPhone 5 will have 128 gig of memory, and flexible screen that won’t break, it will be waterproof, and you can set Siri to “mean” so that she will yell at you when you say stupid stuff to her, but I have a feeling I’m just going to see a redesign to make the phone “taller” and iOS 6 will become a reality instead of a Beta.

Alas, it doesn’t matter much anyway, as even if this phone is waterproof, can turn dog poop into gold, and will Make Me Smile (Oh, wait, it will Make Me Smile), in any case, as I bought an iPhone 4s a year ago, the AT&T contract budget won’t let me upgrade my phone to the new one for a year. That’s not to say I’m not interested in the iPhone, because I am. I’m curious to hear the presentation on why the phone is “taller” instead of just proportionally larger; I’m curious to hear about the new iPods (although I’m not really sure why); and I’m hoping to hear about new iMacs coming down the pike, but I suppose that one might wait for an October event. And I plight: Are you interested in the iPhone 5?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Did You Know the VMA’s Were Last Night?

The VMA’s were last night. Yes, you might remember them, the MTV Video Music Awards, those awards still on MTV for those things, music videos, that they really don’t play any longer. I forgot about them, and I’m supposed to be “entertainment.” With my line-up of the results show for America’s Got Talent (I think Howard Stern made the right decision letting the painter dude and his cronies, David Garibaldi and His CMYKs, go through), watching Dan manipulate the masses and slowly securing his place as the best player ever on Big Brother, and then having to sit through President Obama’s speech because I was too lazy to change the channel when I was going to bed (It was a good speech, but that’s sort of what he is known for), remembering the VMA’s just slipped my mind.

I guess Rihanna won the big award and shocked everyone with her short hair and long dress, or so read a quick headline when I Googled “video music awards” this morning, and I also guess there wasn’t anything crazy that happened because, well, there also weren’t any headlines of “Craziness Engulfs the VMA’s,” so in terms of news I’m guessing within about 6 hours, no one will really care, but I care. Okay, I really don’t care about what happened at the VMA’s, but I care, and I plight today: Did you know the VMA’s were last night?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Did You Ever Play Farmville?

Farmville 2 has hit the Facebook universe, and I know Zynga is really hoping it brings some gusto back to it’s brand, but I have to say that other than the characters being cute, and the 3-D is nice and all but a little slow, I quickly “unplugged” the app from my Facebook account after about 5 minutes of playing and probably won’t be back. Not a good sign.

I was a big Zynga guy. From Farmville to the Cafe game, from Cityville to Empires and Allies, and from Cityville to Castleville, I’ve wasted countless hours collecting crops and trying to expand my “Ville” or fight the “enemy,” only to get frustrated by the increasing need to “add neighbors,” and not wanting to add people I really didn’t know to my friend’s list. Being selective left an instant stall in how big I could grow things, and eventually led to many thoughts of “Why am I wasting my time with this?” Luckily I never got into the “buying coins” thing, although I do admit I did buy a Zynga gift card as a gift for someone, but that was about it.

I do have to say that as my Facebook world has shifted from my laptop to my iPhone that the Facebook game thing has faded quite a bit for me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still a Zynga user as I can be a Words With Friends kind of guy, and still like it when the Scramble game gives me some fanfare when I get lucky and defeat my wife, but still wonder at their decision to buy Draw Something as that game quickly got old with its insistence on “buying” just about everything. I did try the Farmville thing on my iPhone with their app, and I think I would have gotten sucked in had I found it early on in my Zynga love, but by the time it hit I had come to my senses and figured my life would be better lived if I didn’t waste me time building a virtual farm that would only leave me sad that I didn’t have any friends.

In any case, with Farmville 2 now out, my daily plight reflects back to the original: Did you ever play Farmville?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

The NFL season opens this week, and my excitement level is about half. Having lived in Chicago more than half of my life now, I have become a Chicago Bears fan, however, having grown up near Cleveland, the Browns are always near and dear to my heart. Luckily the chance of the Browns playing the Bears in the Super Bowl is such a far-out reality that my true allegiance will probably never be tested, but I will find myself cheering on both teams an any given Sunday. This year there was some initial hope for the Bears, but then Brian Urlacher ended up injured and the team just didn’t look that great in the pre-season (Maybe Jay Cutler’s new baby with K-Cav, I mean Kristin Cavallari, is keeping him up at night), and the Browns, well, I don’t pay attention to them as much as I should, usually I’m just hoping they can win a few games a season and make it look good, but from what I could follow from some Facebook friends, it looks like it might be a long season for the Browns fans again.

The thing is I’m a sucker for believing, once the season gets going, that somehow, someway, one of my teams will make it to the Super Bowl. I will watch the games, check the standings, and until they are mathematically eliminated, always have some glimmer of hope and usually waste the three-ish hours of a Sunday yelling at the TV (Although the yelling has toned down quite a bit since I’ve gotten married) that Cutler will make that miraculous play, or the Dog-Pound will have a reason to go crazy. Then, low and behold, there will inevitably come that play in the game where I will turn into my mom, throw my arms up in disgust, and say “That’s it!”, knowing, in my head, the game is over, only thirty seconds later thinking “Maybe there’s a chance.” It’s like a self-inflicted torture every Sunday, of highs and lows, and praying the opposing team is stupid and will kick the ball to Devin Hester for another amazing kick-off return.

Such is football, and such will be Sundays for a while, and such is today’s plight: Are you ready for some football?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!!  L8R!!!

Did You Have a Good Summer?

Summer is over here in the northern hemisphere of this globe we call Earth. Sure there is that entire “Fall doesn’t officially begin until the Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd” thing, but for the most part, with Labor Day complete and it now being September, it’s Fall. You wouldn’t know it today here in Chicago with the temperature supposedly going to reach 90 degrees, but hey, it’s been a really hot few months, so why stop now? As are most seasons if we had a good one we look back and wonder where the time went, or generally look forward to the next seasonal phase, hoping a new start is beginning because the previous one seemed so lousy. So this plight is pretty straightforward: Did you have a good summer?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Do You Have to Work on Labor Day?

I was going to have today’s plight be about pregnant ladies, poking fun at the word “labor” in Labor Day, but I decided against it. I’ve used that joke for years, put in my head by radio dude Steve Dahl, but then I just didn’t like where that plight was going, ending up with “Do you know anyone pregnant on this Labor Day?” Maybe I’ll use it next year, but the more I was thinking about Labor Day and it’s reason for being, the more it also occurs to me that for those we are mostly celebrating, as the day is a holiday “that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers,” the workers are also those getting screwed by actually having the day off. Sure, it’s a supposed boom for the retail sector, but in the agreements I’ve read with many a union, Labor Day is a day that work is forbidden except in the cases saving life or property, or with permission by the union. The thing is, most union folks are paid by the hour, only when they work, so by actually forcing union people to take the day off they are actually being punished by getting one day less in pay, and if you want the math, the base rate for a Laborer in Chicago is about $36.30/hr, so by forcing a Laborer in Chicago to not work on Labor Day and to have a barbecue instead, that dude (or dudette for that matter) is losing about $290.04 in an 8-hour day, and that doesn’t even include all of the benefits paid to the union by the company he or she works for. Yup, by my calculation, Labor Day is actually screwing over most of the people we are supposed to be celebrating!

In the end, though, I’m happy with Labor Day, and the three day weekend it gives me, but I do remember some of my days in retail when I always thought it sucked because I had to work. Retail workers have to work and most of them probably don’t want to, and Laborers would rather work but can’t because the Union won’t let them, which leads me to today’s plight of: Do you have to work on Labor Day?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Have you ever had an egg roll with peanut butter in it?

The other day my wife said the oddest thing, or so I thought. She said that she was craving a good egg roll, which I must admit that every now and then I crave a good egg roll as well (My go-to when I was working in Chicago for an awesome egg roll was Chinatown Cafe at 2604 S Wentworth). That wasn’t the odd thing. The odd thing was her saying the best egg roll she ever had was made with peanut butter. I looked at her with confusion, and she told me that in her travels, she found that “authentic” egg rolls are made with peanut butter in them. And so our quest began

As our travels yesterday took us into Chicago, we had three goals: 1) Get a free cupcake from Sprinkles Chicago when they tweet their word of the day. 2) Get an italian lemonade from Mario’s on Taylor Street. 3) Find a restaurant that put peanut butter in their egg rolls. So the internet search began.

It turns out there were a few restaurants that put peanut butter in their egg rolls, but for convenience and decent reviews, we decided on Seven Treasures Cantonese Cuisine at 2312 S Wentworth in the heart of Chinatown in Chicago. My taste buds were delighted that our goals were achieved this day, my diet plan – not so much, but with the Sprinkles Whisper-of-The-Day being “Jackpot” we scored free vanilla milk-chocolate cupcakes, had a watermelon italian ice at Mario’s, and I was able to try an egg roll made with peanut butter in it, and I must say it was very tasty, tasty enough to make me second guess the next time I’m craving an egg roll and now I’m going to have to decide between Chinatown Cafe and Seven Treasures.

With the day complete my plight is this: Have you ever had an egg roll with peanut butter in it?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Would You Ever “Be a Flirt” and “Raise Your Shirt”?

Sure, this plight mostly applies to the ladies, although I suppose dudes can partake in this as well, but as I was driving around the other day I was coming upon a truck, and the back of the truck was kind of dirty. That’s not highly unusual, but as I got closer I noticed some writing on the back of the truck, obviously done by hand, in the dirt of the truck. I figured it would just be the proverbial “Wash me,” or some other request for some cleanliness, but then the words started to appear: “Be a flirt, raise your shirt,” and I wondered how that was working out for the truck driver. The person somewhat fascinated with statistics in me then began to wonder if it does work well, what locations seem to be the “flirtiest,” and also thought that it might be an interested study for the trucker to partake in on his quest for topless women (I’m assuming he’s looking for the ladies to flirt, and not the men), thereby knowing he could request more hauling in a certain part of the country so that his handwritten instructions, in the dirt, on the back of his truck, could be best utilized.

Granted requests such as this are not that unusual, as seeing the truck also reminded me of the radio duo of “Opie and Anthony,” who promoted “W.O.W”, a.k.a. “Whip ’em Out Wednesdays” where the ladies were supposed to whip out their boobs to whomever had a “W.O.W.” sign prominently posted, and we have all heard stories of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where flashing ta-tas for beads is the norm, but in the end I plight: Would you ever “Be a flirt” and “Raise your shirt”?

That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Should Led Zeppelin be Filed Under “L” or “Z”?

I didn’t watch Paul Ryan’s speech at the Republican National Convention, but as I was checking my Twitter feed while it was going on Phil Rosenthal (@phil_rosenthal) tweeted “Last time Zeppelin was mentioned at a GOP convention, it was an actual zeppelin.” to which @csupp replied and Phil retweeted “If Ryan’s playlist files Led Zeppelin under Z, he’s doing it wrong.” It was in response to Paul Ryan referencing the music on his iPod stating “My playlist starts with AC/DC and it ends with Zeppelin.”, which I suppose is correct if you reference Led Zeppelin as just Zeppelin, but then in my head I started obsessing over it. I checked my iPhone, and sure enough Led Zeppelin was filed under “L,” so I felt secure in my years of having a CD collection with my Zeppelin music filed under “L,” and then I wondered in my head “Maybe Paul Ryan doesn’t have any music after the letter “L”? But that can’t be right, I mean we know he likes Rage Against the Machine, but maybe he doesn’t include them on his iPod anymore after being put down by Tom Morello?

My obsession didn’t stop there. Nope, I then wondered “Who really is the first group on Mr. Ryan’s playlist?” Maybe he just didn’t want to seem soft and admit to an Abba song every once in a while, and then, of course, I obsessed “Since AC/DC is in all caps, does that make it come before Abba so he is right, anyway?” Then there is the truth about who the last group is on his iPod, I mean, it shouldn’t be Led Zeppelin, should it? Doesn’t the man have some ZZ Top, easily the last group on many a playlist, but maybe he’s a closet Zebrahead fan (that’s the second-to-last group on my playlist) and isn’t one for songs of sharp dressed men nor men with long beards, then I thought there was no way he was a Zebrahead fan, they of a catchy song called “Playmate of the Year.” And so, the important question to ask at the upcoming Ryan-Biden debate should be “Mr. Ryan, what really is the last group on your playlist?”, but for now I just have a plight: Should Led Zeppelin be filed under “L” or “Z”?

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!